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4.02.2008

"100 million people have been wrong before."

"Thirty One Today" by AIMEE MANN: Just added! Had to toss this one into tonight's post after discovering an email from one of Mann's publicists announcing the release of this new track from Aimee's hilariously titled June album, @#%&! SMILERS (any guesses on the cuss word? "Motherfucking?"). While still mining somber subject matter on "Thirty One Today," Mann sounds absolutely bubbly this time around. Smilers is Mann's first album of original material since 2005's boxing themed The Forgotten Arm (I'm not counting her holiday album, obviously). I've already addressed both my crush on Mann (she was even in The Big Lebowski, for fuck's sake!) and her songwriting genius here before, so I'll just leave you with this, a link to her website, where you'll find all kinds of bio info, an extensive discography, and links to listen to some of her work.

"Heart it Races" by DR. DOG: Yeah, almost every post I've made this year references Dr. Dog. What of it, punk? Here's their oft-blogged cover or Architecture in Helsinki's "Heart it Races." I'm probably in the minority, but I think this version blows the original right off the map.

"Elevator Love Letter" by STARS: Music has just been piling up on my hard drive for years now, and I have had little time to hear most of it, which leads to awesome moments like the other day when this song came on in my car. Hearing it spurred me to get back to posting here, and it took me three posts to finally get this one onlnine.

"One Slight Wrong Move" by ARCHERS OF LOAF: Speaking of random songs in my car, this Archers classic (from White Trash Heroes, their final hurrah) crept up from the depths on me this afternoon and kicked my entire boring day in the ass. So funky, so dissonant. It was also the perfect lead-in for what followed. . .

"Editions of You" by ROXY MUSIC: I can attribute an entire decade delay in my love of Roxy Music to the father of a childhood friend, who constanly played "Love is the Drug" in his car when he was driving us anywhere. Since this guy's record collection consisted of a lot of Don Henley and Jimmy Buffett, I chalked RM up to being just another group of coked up assholes with no talent. I guess I was right about them probably being coked up, and probably being assholes, but 66% is still a failing grade in my book. (A few years ago, I had my brother in stitches when we pulled up next to a car blaring Jimmy Buffett and I leaned out to their open window and screamed, "BUFFETT CAN STUFF IT!" Fuck that guy.)

"Sport" by LIGHTNIN ROD"Superfly" by CURITS MAYFIELD"Egg Man (demo)""Egg Man" by BEASTIE BOYS: The deconstruction/reconstruction of a hip-hop masterpiece. Of course, the Beastie Boys' classic "Egg Man" probably features dozens of other samples (including music from "Jaws"), but Lightnin Rod's "Sport" and Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" are the two pillars the rest of the song stands upon. The last book I read for recreation, before this semester got a grip on me, was the 33 1/3 series entry about the making of the B Boys' Paul's Boutique. I highly recommend it, even though it was dying for a footnote section listing as many possible samples used on the record as possible. If you're looking for more, do a Google search on The Beastie Collection compilation, which is packed with original songs sampled for that and a few other B Boys records.